Encanto: Mirabel's Nightmare

Chapter 2

As soon as dinner had concluded, Camilo rushed off upstairs to Mirabel's room. He went to knock on the door but it was already slightly open so he stepped inside to find Mirabel sat on her bed. "Mira? What's going on? Are you okay?" He could tell she'd been crying. "Yeah, I-" she paused for a minute. Maybe she should just tell him the truth. Maybe it'd be easier for her if somebody else knew about what was happening. "No, I'm not okay. I can't take it anymore Camilo!" She says, fighting back tears. "Huh? Take what?" She goes on to tell him everything. How she's been having that same reoccurring nightmare every night and how at dinner she'd heard the voices of the strange apparitions, taunting her in the back of her mind. "Oh my god..Mirabel..I'm telling Abuela. Surely she'll be able to do something." He got up and headed for the door when Mirabel grabbed his arm to stop him. "No! Please don't tell anyone Camilo!" She begged. "Mira, if we don't tell anyone this could get a lot worse!" He reminded her. "..please.." she whispered to him. "...okay. But you have to promise you won't hide things like this from me." He said. "Promise." She replied. And after all that, she realised the voices had finally stopped.

That night, Mirabel slept for the first time in what felt like forever. The dreams just..stopped. She skipped downstairs as happy as could be until she remembered about the party later. On days like this, everyone would always get mad at her for no good reason and it was so frustrating. She gets that everyone is stressed because they have to get the house ready for later but is that really a good excuse to yell at her all day? It's not like it was ever worth it either. Nobody would really talk to her at the party. It was as if she was invisible. "OKAY LISTEN UP EVERYONE!" It was Abuela. "Everything has to be perfect for tonight! Luisa, I need you to grab those boxes over to your right and put them in the main hall. Isabella, you're on flower duty as always. Dolores, I need you to listen out for anyone talking about tonight. Maybe they'll give some suggestions. And Pepa, please try stay in a good mood tonight, okay? We don't need a huge rain cloud soaking everyone like last year." She said that last part with an angry expression, she hates when things don't go to plan. She gazed around the room for a second until her eyes landed on Mirabel. "Oh and Mira-" she tried to finish her sentence but was cut off by Mirabel "Yeah, yeah, I know, let the others handle things." She said, rolling her eyes.

Thankfully, she wasn't the only person who wasn't allowed to help set things up. Antonio wasn't either as Abuela was afraid he'd smash something so instead Mirabel took him down to the river for a couple of hours for some peace and quiet. Their favourite thing to do there was skip stones and they spent that much time down at the river that they've both became pretty good at it. "Ooo that looks like a good one! Give it a try!" Mirabel says, handing Antonio a smooth, medium sized rock. "Ok! 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8! Yay! That's my favourite number!" He grinned. "Good job!" She called back. "Woah! That's a big rock!" Antonio reached out to pick it up when Mirabel stopped him. "Antonio no! That's a crab!" She warned. "Oh! Hi Mr Crab!..Uh huh..uh huh..really? I'm not surprised! Have a nice day now! Bye!" Antonio's gift was being able to speak to animals so he was able to start a conversation with the crab. "What did he say?" Mirabel asked. "He told me he gets mistaken for a rock all the time and he's thinking of moving away from the river." He answered. "That's probably a good idea. I'm sure he doesn't want to be flung into the water by some little kid." She laughed. Mirabel looked down at her watch. "Hmm..it's only 1:00pm..we still have 5 hours to kill until the party starts." She told him. "Mirabel? Why don't you get to help like everyone else?" Antonio asked. "Well someone has to entertain you, don't they?" She answered, laughing. Of course that wasn't the real reason but she couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth. He wasn't old enough for that yet. "Well you're pretty lucky! You don't have to help set up for the party or do any chores!" He said. Huh. She'd never thought of it like that. While everyone was hard at work, she got to hang out with her favourite little cousin. Although sometimes she just wishes she even got the opportunity to help. The opportunity to make her family proud. But she was always pushed away when she tried so eventually she just gave up. "You don't have to do any chores either." She giggled. "Yeah, but as soon as I'm old enough I will...what are you gonna do when I have to go out and do chores too?" He asked. Surprisingly, she hadn't thought of that. She'd be alone for hours on end while everyone else was out making themselves useful. "Well..I'm not sure. But that won't be for a few years yet so no need to worry." Maybe by then her family would finally accept her.

They played for another hour or so when suddenly, things went very down hill. They were back. The voices were back. "No, no, no, no! Not here! Not in front of him! I thought you were gone!" She whispered, but clearly not quietly enough. "Mirabel? What's going on?" He asked. "Uh, nothing! Just continue playing, okay?" She tried so hard to ignore them but they just kept getting louder. "BE QUIET!" She yelled. Antonio jumped. Crap. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean you Antonio!" She tried to explain herself but Antonio just stood there, silently. He was clearly scared now. "..can we go home?" He said, softly. "Uhm, yeah. Of course." Now she'd done it. She'd scared off 1 out of the only 2 people who really cared about her in the family.

Dolores was the first person to notice them coming home so early because of her amazing hearing. "Antonio? Antonio what's wrong?" He didn't answer her. Instead, he walked off to his room and shut the door. "Mirabel what did you do?!" Dolores yelled. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Then Mirabel just turned around and went straight back outside.

She walked for hours, thinking about everything. The voices kept coming and going in between. "It doesn't make sense! The dreams stopped! Why are you still hear?!" She said to herself. But what she wasn't expecting, was for them to talk back to her.

The candle

"The candle? What about it?" But the voices stopped. "DAMN IT! OF COURSE YOU STOP THE MINUTE I ACTUALLY NEED YOU!" She glanced down at her watch once again. "Great. It's 5:00pm. I was supposed to be back an hour ago. Let me just add that to the list of things I'm going to be yelled at for tonight."

As she walked through the door, she braced herself for all the shouting. "MIRABEL!" Yep...there it is. "I can not believe you! You are a whole hour late coming back from doing god knows what and you somehow managed to upset Antonio!" Abuela roared. "Abuela I'm sor-" she tried to apologise and explain but she was cut off. "Ugh I don't want to hear another word from you! You are a disgrace to this family Mirabel Madrigal! Now go get ready for the party before I ground you instead!" Out of all the horrible things Abuela had said to her over the years, being told she was a "disgrace to this family" definitely hurt the most. Mirabel turned around and ran upstairs, fighting back tears. "What have I ever done to deserve being treated like this! I've done nothing but try make you proud my whole life and you just treat me like crap! No wonder I turned out the way I did! It's because I never had a loving family to guide me!" Mirabel shouted down to her Abuela. And at that moment, everyone and everything went silent.

Chapter 3 tomorrow :) (15.1.21)